This customer lost her husband but wanted to give her two daughters a memento of their Dad. The girls remembered Dad going to work every day so we turned the family collection of ties into made to order custom decorative pillows.

Because these are delicate silk ties, we stabilized the blocks so the silk won't tear under wear and hugging.

I've been known to tuck flowers in all sorts of things - as decorations for gifts, inside a get well card, once in a book as a page marker.

Decorating cakes with flowers out of icing can be fun, but who wants to eat all of that sugar icing - or even cut into the flowers?? At a recent farewell potluck lunch, I was delighted to see the cake decorated with a stunning bouquet of fresh garden flowers, all held in the cake by a small glass flower vase.

Best of all, after the cake is gone, they will still have flowers to enjoy!

Last year part of the roof rotted, so I removed the piece, sanded down the edges and treated the cleaned birdhouse with a couple coats of polyurethane. I then found an old glass bottle that would fit through the opening.

Filled with flowers, the renovated birdhouse works well as an outdoor table decoration under a deck umbrella, or anywhere inside the house where you want some whimsy.

Favorite family cookies are nice gift idea for teachers and special friends.

If you want to make something, do you have a favorite cookie recipe you and your kids can make? Take photos of the kids making the cookies, then use the photo as a gift tag which includes the cookie recipe and everyone's hand-signed names.

Package the cookies in a basket lined with a nice cotton napkin you can make by binding the edges of a square piece of cotton. Re-purposed tins, lined with wax paper, also make nice cookie containers, especially if you want to make cookies ahead of time and keep them fresh.

I sometimes put the cookies in a plastic bag inside the tins. One dozen cookies per person is a nice amount; most recipes will make between 3-4 dozen cookies.

I also use tins to store sewing supplies, buttons and catnip toys to keep them fresh.

I started Bluebird Gardens in 1998 on the premise that everyone can makesomething; they just don’t always think of it as being special.In my world, it is the thought that counts.I’ll let you in on a little secret; making something for someone issometimes more fun than giving it away.I’ll be featuring those wonderful homemade handmade things, and the people who are special enough to get them.